Protecting sensitive information from a secure data store

ABSTRACT

In embodiments of the present invention improved capabilities are described for the steps of receiving an indication that a computer facility has access to a secure data store, causing a security parameter of a storage medium local to the computer facility to be assessed, determining if the security parameter is compliant with a security policy relating to computer access of the remote secure data store, and in response to an indication that the security parameter is non-compliant, cause the computer facility to implement an action to prevent further dissemination of information, to disable access to network communications, to implement an action to prevent further dissemination of information, and the like.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/405,642 filed Mar. 17, 2009, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Field

The present invention is related to a computer implemented system forprotecting sensitive data in a secure data store that is accessed byend-point computers.

Description of the Related Art

Data stored in secure computer resources is under the constant threat ofbeing leaked by insecure or inappropriate use of the system. Sharedaccess to data in secure data stores is particularly difficult tocontrol because, although the secure data store may have accessrestrictions, once the data is extracted from the secure data store itmay be lost. It would be useful to improve the systems used to protectdata that is extracted from secure data stores.

SUMMARY

An aspect of the present invention relates to protecting sensitiveinformation that is stored in a secure data store. In this informationage, there are large amounts of sensitive data transferred throughcomputers and computer networks. Companies possessing such informationare under scrutiny and regulation to protect such sensitive information.In some cases, securing and protecting sensitive information is a vitalfunction for a corporation. The applicants of the present inventionrealized that it is also very important to protect the information oncedata is taken out of the secure data store. In embodiments, the presentinvention is adapted to regulate the dissemination of data from anendpoint that has access, or has accessed, a secure data store. Theendpoint may be evaluated for compliance with a policy relating to theaccess of the secure data store. In the event the endpoint is found tobe non-compliant, the endpoint may be regulated per the policy. Inembodiments, the present invention may be implemented as a method on amachine, as a system or apparatus as part of or in relation to themachine, or as a computer program product embodied in a computerreadable medium executing on one or more of the machines.

In embodiments, the present invention may perform the steps of receivingan indication that a computer facility has access to a secure datastore, causing a security parameter of a storage medium local to thecomputer facility to be assessed, determining if the security parameteris compliant with a security policy relating to computer access of theremote secure data store, and in response to an indication that thesecurity parameter is non-compliant, cause the computer facility toimplement an action to prevent further dissemination of information.

In embodiments, the present invention may perform the steps of receivingan indication that a computer facility has access to a secure datastore, causing a security parameter of a storage medium local to thecomputer facility to be assessed, determining if the security parameteris compliant with a security policy relating to computer access of theremote secure data store, and in response to an indication that thesecurity parameter is non-compliant, causing the computer facility todisable access to network communications.

In embodiments, the present invention may perform the steps of receivingan indication that a computer facility has retrieved data from a securedata store, monitoring what storage medium the computer facility writesthe data to and assessing a security parameter of the storage medium todetermine if it is compliant with a security policy relating to computeraccess of the remote secure database and in response to receiving anindication that the security parameter is not compliant, causing thecomputer facility to implement an action to prevent furtherdissemination of information.

In embodiments, the present invention may perform the steps of receivingan indication that a computer facility has access to a secure datastore, causing a security parameter relating to the computer facility tobe assessed, determining if the security parameter is compliant with asecurity policy relating to computer access of the remote secure datastore, and in response to an indication that the security parameter isnon-compliant, causing the computer facility to implement an action toprevent further dissemination of information.

These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and advantages ofthe present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and thedrawings. All documents mentioned herein are hereby incorporated intheir entirety by reference.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The invention and the following detailed description of certainembodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the followingfigures:

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram in an embodiment of the presentinvention.

While the invention has been described in connection with certainpreferred embodiments, other embodiments would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art and are encompassed herein.

All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats. An aspect ofthe present invention relates to corporate policy management and theirimplementation through a unified threat management facility 100. As willbe explained in more detail below, a threat management facility 100 isused to protect computer assets from many threats, both computergenerated threats and user generated threats. The threat managementfacility 100 is multi-dimensional in that it is designed to protectcorporate assets from a variety of threats and it is adapted to learnabout threats in one dimension (e.g. worm detection) and apply theknowledge in another dimension (e.g. spam detection). Corporate policymanagement is one of the dimensions for which the threat managementfacility can control. The corporation may institute a policy thatprevents certain people (e.g. employees, groups of employees, types ofemployees, guest of the corporation, etc.) from accessing certain typesof computer programs. For example, the corporation may elect to preventits accounting department from using a particular version of an instantmessaging service or all such services. In this example, the policymanagement facility 112 may be used to update the policies of allcorporate computing assets with a proper policy control facility or itmay update a select few. By using the threat management facility 100 tofacilitate the setting, updating and control of such policies thecorporation only needs to be concerned with keeping the threatmanagement facility 100 up to date on such policies. The threatmanagement facility 100 can take care of updating all of the othercorporate computing assets.

It should be understood that the threat management facility 100 mayprovide multiple services and policy management may be offered as one ofthe services. We will now turn to a description of the threat managementsystem 100

Over recent years, malware has become a major problem across theinternet 154. From both technical and user perspectives thecategorization of a specific threat type, such as whether it is a virus,worm, spam, phishing exploration, spyware, adware, or the like, isbecoming reduced in significance. The threat, no matter how it'scategorized, may need to be stopped at all points of the enterprisefacility 102, including laptop, desktop, server facility 142, gateway,and the like. Similarly, there may be less and less benefit to the userin having different solutions for known and unknown threats. As such, aconsolidated threat management facility 100 may need to be applied tothe same set of technologies and capabilities for all threats. Thethreat management facility 100 may provide a single agent on thedesktop, and a single scan of any suspect file. This approach mayeliminate the inevitable overlaps and gaps in protection caused bytreating viruses and spyware as separate problems, while simultaneouslysimplifying administration and minimizing desktop load. As the numberand range of types of threats has increased, so may have the level ofconnectivity available to all IT users. This may have lead to a rapidincrease in the speed at which threats may move. Today, an unprotectedPC connected to the internet 154 may be infected quickly, say within 10minutes, which may require acceleration for the delivery of threatprotection. Where once, monthly updates may have been sufficient, thethreat management facility 100 may automatically and seamlessly updateits product set against spam and virus threats quickly, for instance,every five minutes, every minute, continuously, or the like. Analysisand testing may be increasingly automated, and also may be performedmore frequently; for instance, it may be completed in 15 minutes, andmay do so without compromising quality. The threat management facility100 may also extend techniques that may have been developed for virusand malware protection, and provide them to enterprise facility 102network administrators to better control their environments. In additionto stopping malicious code, the threat management facility 100 mayprovide policy management that may be able to control legitimateapplications, such as VoIP, instant messaging, peer-to-peerfile-sharing, and the like, that may undermine productivity and networkperformance within the enterprise facility 102.

The threat management facility 100 may provide an enterprise facility102 protection from computer-based malware, including viruses, spyware,adware, Trojans, intrusion, spam, policy abuse, uncontrolled access, andthe like, where the enterprise facility 102 may be any entity with anetworked computer-based infrastructure. In an embodiment, FIG. 1 maydepict a block diagram of the threat management facility providingprotection to an enterprise against a plurality of threats. Theenterprise facility 102 may be corporate, commercial, educational,governmental, or the like, and the enterprise facility's 102 computernetwork may be distributed amongst a plurality of facilities, and in aplurality of geographical locations. The threat management facility 100may include a plurality of functions, such as security managementfacility 122, policy management facility 112, update facility 120,definitions facility 114, network access rules facility 124, remedialaction facility 128, detection techniques facility 130, testing facility118, threat research facility 132, and the like. In embodiments, thethreat protection provided by the threat management facility 100 mayextend beyond the network boundaries of the enterprise facility 102 toinclude enterprise facility 102 client facility's 144 that have movedinto network connectivity not directly associated or controlled by theenterprise facility 102. Threats to enterprise facility 102 clientfacilities 144 may come from a plurality of sources, such as fromnetwork threats 104, physical proximity threats 110, secondary locationthreats 108, and the like. In embodiments, the threat managementfacility 100 may provide an enterprise facility 102 protection from aplurality of threats to multiplatform computer resources in a pluralityof locations and network configurations, with an integrated systemapproach.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may be provided as astand-alone solution. In other embodiments, the threat managementfacility 100 may be integrated into a third-party product. Anapplication programming interface (e.g. a source code interface) may beprovided such that the threat management facility 100 may be integrated.For instance, the threat management facility 100 may be stand-alone inthat it provides direct threat protection to an enterprise or computerresource, where protection is subscribed to directly with the threatmanagement facility 100. Alternatively, the threat management facilitymay offer protection indirectly, through a third-party product, where anenterprise may subscribe to services through the third-party product,and threat protection to the enterprise may be provided by the threatmanagement facility 100 through the third-party product.

The security management facility 122 may include a plurality of elementsthat provide protection from malware to enterprise facility 102 computerresources, including endpoint security and control, email security andcontrol, web security and control, reputation-based filtering, controlof unauthorized users, control of guest and non-compliant computers, andthe like. The security management facility 122 may be a softwareapplication that may provide malicious code and malicious applicationprotection to a client facility 144 computing resource. The securitymanagement facility 122 may have the ability to scan the client facility144 files for malicious code, remove or quarantine certain applicationsand files, prevent certain actions, perform remedial actions and performother security measures. In embodiments, scanning the client facility144 may include scanning some or all of the files stored to the clientfacility 144 on a periodic basis, may scan applications once theapplication has been requested to execute, may scan files as the filesare transmitted to or from the client facility 144, or the like. Thescanning of the applications and files may be to detect known maliciouscode or known unwanted applications. In an embodiment, new maliciouscode and unwanted applications may be continually developed anddistributed, and updates to the known code database may be provided on aperiodic basis, on a demand basis, on an alert basis, or the like.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide foremail security and control, where security management may help toeliminate spam, viruses, spyware and phishing, control of email content,and the like. The security management facilities 122 email security andcontrol may protect against inbound and outbound threats, protect emailinfrastructure, prevent data leakage, provide spam filtering, and thelike. In an embodiment, security management facility 122 may provide forweb security and control, where security management may help to detector block viruses, spyware, malware, unwanted applications, help controlweb browsing, and the like, which may provide comprehensive web accesscontrol enabling safe, productive web browsing. Web security and controlmay provide interne use policies, reporting on suspect devices, securityand content filtering, active monitoring of network traffic, URIfiltering, and the like. In an embodiment, the security managementfacility 122 may provide for network access control, which may providecontrol over network connections. Network control may stop unauthorized,guest, or non-compliant systems from accessing networks, and may controlnetwork traffic that may not be bypassed from the client level. Inaddition, network access control may control access to virtual privatenetworks (VPN), where VPNs may be a communications network tunneledthrough another network, establishing a logical connection acting as avirtual network. In embodiments, a VPN may be treated in the same manneras a physical network.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forhost intrusion prevention through behavioral based protection, which mayguard against unknown threats by analyzing behavior before software codeexecutes. Behavioral based protection may monitor code when it runs andintervene if the code is deemed to be suspicious or malicious.Advantages of behavioral based protection over runtime protection mayinclude code being prevented from running, whereas runtime protectionmay only interrupt code that has already partly executed; behavioralprotection may identify malicious code at the gateway or on the fileservers and deletes it before reaching end-point computers and the like.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forreputation filtering, which may target or identify sources of knownmalware. For instance, reputation filtering may include lists of URIs ofknown sources of malware or known suspicious IP addresses, or domains,say for spam, that when detected may invoke an action by the threatmanagement facility 100, such as dropping them immediately. By droppingthe source before any interaction can initiate, potential threat sourcesmay be thwarted before any exchange of data can be made.

In embodiments, information may be sent from the enterprise back to athird party, a vendor, or the like, which may lead to improvedperformance of the threat management facility 100. For example, thetypes, times, and number of virus interactions that a client experiencesmay provide useful information for the preventions of future virusthreats. This type of feedback may be useful for any aspect of threatdetection. Feedback of information may also be associated with behaviorsof individuals within the enterprise, such as being associated with mostcommon violations of policy, network access, unauthorized applicationloading, unauthorized external device use, and the like. In embodiments,this type of information feedback may enable the evaluation or profilingof client actions that are violations of policy that may provide apredictive model for the improvement of enterprise policies.

In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may provide forthe overall security of the enterprise facility 102 network or set ofenterprise facility 102 networks, may provide updates of malicious codeinformation to the enterprise facility 102 network, and associatedclient facilities 144. The updates may be a planned update, an update inreaction to a threat notice, an update in reaction to a request for anupdate, an update based on a search of known malicious code information,or the like. The administration facility 134 may provide control overthe security management facility 122 when updates are performed. Theupdates may be automatically transmitted without an administrationfacility's 134 direct control, manually transmitted by theadministration facility 134, or the like. The security managementfacility 122 may include the management of receiving malicious codedescriptions from a provider, distribution of malicious codedescriptions to enterprise facility 102 networks, distribution ofmalicious code descriptions to client facilities 144, or the like. In anembodiment, the management of malicious code information may be providedto the enterprise facility's 102 network, where the enterprisefacility's 102 network may provide the malicious code informationthrough the enterprise facility's 102 network distribution system.

The threat management facility 100 may provide policy managementfacility 112 that may be able to block non-malicious applications, suchas VoIP 164, instant messaging 162, peer-to-peer file-sharing, and thelike, that may undermine productivity and network performance within theenterprise facility 102. The policy management facility 112 may be a setof rules or policies that may indicate enterprise facility 102 accesspermissions for the client facility 144, such as access permissionsassociated with the network, applications, external computer devices,and the like. The policy management facility 112 may include a database,a text file, a combination of databases and text files, or the like. Inan embodiment, a policy database may be a block list, a black list, anallowed list, a white list, or the like that may provide a list ofenterprise facility 102 external network locations/applications that mayor may not be accessed by the client facility 144. The policy managementfacility 112 may include rules that may be interpreted with respect toan enterprise facility 102 network access request to determine if therequest should be allowed. The rules may provide a generic rule for thetype of access that may be granted; the rules may be related to thepolicies of an enterprise facility 102 for access rights for theenterprise facility's 102 client facility 144. For example, there may bea rule that does not permit access to sporting websites. When a websiteis requested by the client facility 144, a security facility may accessthe rules within a policy facility to determine if the requested accessis related to a sporting website. In an embodiment, the securityfacility may analyze the requested website to determine if the websitematches with any of the policy facility rules.

The policy management facility 112 may be similar to the securitymanagement facility 122 but with the distribution of enterprise facility102 wide access rules and policies that may maintain control of theaccess of client facility 144 to enterprise facility 102 networkresources. The policies may be defined for application type, subset ofapplication capabilities, organization hierarchy, computer facilitytype, user type, network location, time of day, connection type, or thelike. Policies may be maintained by the administration facility 134,through the threat management facility 100, in association with a thirdparty, or the like. For example, a policy may restrict IM 162 activityto only support personnel for communicating with customers. This mayallow communication for departments requiring access, but may maintainthe network bandwidth for other activities by restricting the use of IM162 to only the personnel that need access to IM 162 in support of theenterprise facility 102. In an embodiment, the policy managementfacility 112 may be a standalone application, may be part of the policymanagement facility 112, network server facility 142, may be part of theenterprise facility 102 network, may be part of the client facility 144,or the like.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may provideconfiguration management, which may be similar to policy management, butmay specifically examine the configuration set of applications,operating systems, hardware, and the like, and managing changes to theirconfigurations. Assessment of a configuration may be made against astandard configuration policy, detection of configuration changes,remediation of improper configuration, application of newconfigurations, and the like. An enterprise may keep a set of standardconfiguration rules and policies which may represent the desired stateof the device. For example, a client firewall may be running andinstalled, but in the disabled state, where remediation may be to enablethe firewall. In another example, the enterprise may set a rule thatdisallows the use of USB disks, and sends a configuration change to allclients, which turns off USB drive access via a registry.

In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may also provide forthe removal of applications that may interfere with the operation of thethreat management facility 100, such as competitor products that mayalso be attempting similar threat management functions. The removal ofsuch products may be initiated automatically whenever such products aredetected. In the case where such applications are services are providedindirectly through a third-party product, the application may besuspended until action is taken to remove or disable the third-partyproduct's protection facility.

Threat management against a sometimes quickly evolving malwareenvironment may require timely updates, and the update managementfacility 120 may be provided by the threat management facility 100. Inaddition, a policy management facility 112 may also require updatemanagement (e.g. as provided by the update facility 120 hereindescribed), as the enterprise facility 102 requirements for policieschange enterprise facility 102, client facility 144, server facility 142enterprise facility 102. The update management for the security facility122 and policy management facility 112 may be provided directly by thethreat management facility 100, such as by a hosted system or inconjunction with the administration facility 134. In embodiments, thethreat management facility 100 may provide for patch management, where apatch may be an update to an operating system, an application, a systemtool, or the like, where one of the reasons for the patch is to reducevulnerability to threats.

In embodiments, the security facility 122 and policy management facility112 may push information to the enterprise facility 102 network and/orclient facility 144, the enterprise facility 102 network and/or clientfacility 144 may pull information from the security facility 122 andpolicy management facility 112 network server facilities 142, there maybe a combination of pushing and pulling of information between thesecurity facility 122 and the policy management facility 112 networkservers 142, enterprise facility 102 network, and client facilities 144,or the like. For example, the enterprise facility 102 network and/orclient facility 144 may pull information from the security facility 122and policy management facility 112 network server facility 142 mayrequest the information using the security facility 122 and policymanagement facility 112 update module; the request may be based on acertain time period, by a certain time, by a date, on demand, or thelike. In another example, the security facility 122 and policymanagement facility 112 network servers 142 may push the information tothe enterprise facility's 102 network and/or client facility 144 byproviding notification that there are updates available for download andthen transmitting the information. The combination of the securitymanagement 122 network server facility 142 and security update modulemay function substantially the same as the policy management facility112 network server and policy update module by providing information tothe enterprise facility 102 network and the client facility 144 in apush or pull method. In an embodiment, the policy management facility112 and the security facility 122 management update modules may work inconcert to provide all the needed information to the enterprisefacility's 102 network and/or client facility 144 for control ofapplication execution. In an embodiment, the policy update module andsecurity update module may be combined into a single update module.

As threats are identified and characterized, the threat managementfacility 100 may create definition updates that may be used to allow thethreat management facility 100 to detect and remediate the latestmalicious software, unwanted applications, configuration and policychanges, and the like. The threat definition facility 114 may containthreat identification updates, also referred to as definition files. Adefinition file may be a virus identity file that may includedefinitions of known or potential malicious code. The IDE definitionfiles may provide information that may identify malicious code withinfiles, applications, or the like. The definition files may be accessedby security management facility 122 when scanning files or applicationswithin the client facility 144 for the determination of malicious codethat may be within the file or application. The definition files maycontain a number of commands, definitions, or instructions, to be parsedand acted upon, or the like. In embodiments, the client facility 144 maybe updated with new definition files periodically to provide the clientfacility 144 with the most recent malicious code definitions; theupdating may be performed on a set time period, may be updated on demandfrom the client facility 144, may be updated on demand from the network,may be updated on a received malicious code alert, or the like. In anembodiment, the client facility 144 may request an update to thedefinition files from an update facility 120 within the network, mayrequest updated definition files from a computing facility external tothe network, updated definition files may be provided to the clientfacility 114 from within the network, definition files may be providedto the client facility 144 from an external computing facility from anexternal network, or the like.

In an embodiment, a definition management facility 114 may provide forthe timely updates of definition files information to the network,client facilities 144, and the like. New and altered malicious code andmalicious applications may be continually created and distributed tonetworks worldwide. The definition files that maintain the definitionsof the malicious code and malicious application information for theprotection of the networks and client facilities 144 may need continualupdating to provide continual defense of the network and client facility144 from the malicious code and malicious applications. The definitionfiles management may provide for automatic and manual methods ofupdating the definition files. In embodiments, the network may receivedefinition files and distribute the definition files to the networkclient facilities 144, the client facilities 144 may receive thedefinition files directly, or the network and client facilities 144 mayboth receive the definition files, or the like. In an embodiment, thedefinition files may be updated on a fixed periodic basis, on demand bythe network and/or the client facility 144, as a result of an alert of anew malicious code or malicious application, or the like. In anembodiment, the definition files may be released as a supplemental fileto an existing definition files to provide for rapid updating of thedefinition files.

In a similar manner, the security management facility 122 may be used toscan an outgoing file and verify that the outgoing file is permitted tobe transmitted per the enterprise facility 102 rules and policies. Bychecking outgoing files, the security management facility 122 may beable discover malicious code infected files that were not detected asincoming files as a result of the client facility 144 having beenupdated with either new definition files or policy management facility112 information. The definition files may discover the malicious codeinfected file by having received updates of developing malicious codefrom the administration facility 134, updates from a definition filesprovider, or the like. The policy management facility 112 may discoverthe malicious code infected file by having received new updates from theadministration facility 134, from a rules provider, or the like.

The threat management facility 100 may provide for a way to controlaccess to the enterprise facility 102 networks. For instance, theenterprise facility 102 may want to restrict access to certainapplications, networks, files, printers, servers, databases, or thelike. In addition, the enterprise facility 102 may want to restrict useraccess under certain conditions, such as the user's location, usagehistory, need to know, job position, connection type, time of day,method of authentication, client-system configuration, or the like.Network access rules may be developed by the enterprise facility 102, orpre-packaged by a supplier, and managed by the threat managementfacility 100 in conjunction with the administration facility 134.Network access rules and control may be responsible for determining if aclient facility 144 application should be granted access to a requestednetwork location. The network location may be on the same network as thefacility or may be on another network. In an embodiment, the networkaccess control may verify access rights for client facilities 144 fromwithin the network or may verify access rights of computer facilitiesfrom external networks. When network access for a client facility 144 isdenied, the network access control may send an information file to theclient facility 144, the information file may contain data or commandsthat may provide instructions for the remedial action facility 128. Theinformation sent by the network access facility 124 control may be adata file. The data file may contain a number of commands, definitions,instructions, or commands to be parsed and acted upon through theremedial action facility 128, or the like. The information sent by thenetwork access facility 124 control may be a command or command filethat the remedial action facility 128 may access and take action upon.

In an embodiment, the network access rules 124 may provide aninformation store to be accessed by the network access control. Thenetwork access rules facility 124 may include databases such as a blocklist, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, an unacceptablenetwork site database, an acceptable network site database, a networksite reputation database, or the like of network access locations thatmay or may not be accessed by the client facility 144. Additionally, thenetwork access rules facility 124 may incorporate rule evaluation; therule evaluation may parse network access requests and apply the parsedinformation to network access rules. The network access rule facility124 may have a generic set of rules that may be in support of anenterprise facility's 102 network access policies, such as denyingaccess to certain types of websites 158, controlling instant messenger162 accesses, or the like. Rule evaluation may include regularexpression rule evaluation, or other rule evaluation method forinterpreting the network access request and comparing the interpretationto the established rules for network access. In an embodiment, thenetwork access rules facility 124 may receive a rules evaluation requestfrom the network access control and may return the rules evaluation tothe network access control.

Similar to the threat definitions facility 114, the network access rulefacility 124 may provide updated rules and policies to the networkaccess rules facility 124. The network access rules facility 124 may bemaintained by the network administration facility 134 using the networkaccess rules facility 124 management. In an embodiment, the networkadministration facility 134 may be able to maintain a set of accessrules manually by adding rules, changing rules, deleting rules, or thelike. Additionally, the administration facility 134 may be able toretrieve predefined rule sets from a provider that may provide a set ofrules to be applied to an entire enterprise facility 102. The networkadministration facility 134 may be able to modify the predefined rulesas needed for a particular enterprise facility 102 using the networkaccess rules management facility 124.

When a threat or policy violation is detected by the threat managementfacility 100, the threat management facility 100 may provide for aremedial action facility 128. Remedial action may take a plurality offorms, such as terminating or modifying an ongoing process orinteraction, sending a warning to a client or administration facility134 of an ongoing process or interaction, executing a program orapplication to remediate against a threat or violation, recordinteractions for subsequent evaluation, or the like. Remedial action maybe associated with an application that responds to information that aclient facility 144 network access request has been denied. In anembodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may parsethe data file, interpret the various aspects of the data file, and acton the parsed data file information to determine actions to be taken onan application requesting access to a denied network location. In anembodiment, when the data file is received, remedial action may accessthe threat definitions to parse the data file and determine an action tobe taken on an application requesting access to a denied networklocation. In an embodiment, the information received from the facilitymay be a command or a command file. The remedial action facility maycarry out any commands that are received or parsed from a data file fromthe facility without performing any interpretation of the commands. Inan embodiment, the remedial action facility may interact with thereceived information and may perform various actions on a clientrequesting access to a denied network location. The action may be one ormore of continuing to block all requests to a denied network location, amalicious code scan on the application, a malicious code scan on theclient facility 144, quarantine of the application, terminating theapplication, isolation of the application, isolation of the clientfacility 144 to a location within the network that restricts networkaccess, blocking a network access port from a client facility 144,reporting the application to a administration facility 134, or the like.

Remedial action may be provided as a result of a detection of a threator violation. The detection techniques facility 130 may includemonitoring the enterprise facility 102 network or end-point devices,such as by monitoring streaming data through the gateway, across thenetwork, through routers and hubs, and the like. The detectiontechniques facility 130 may include monitoring activity and stored fileson computing facilities, such as on server facilities 142, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, other mobile computing devices, and thelike. Detection techniques, such as scanning a computer's stored files,may provide the capability of checking files for stored threats, eitherin the active or passive state. Detection techniques, such as streamingfile management, may provide the capability of checking files receivedat the network, gateway facility, client facility 144, and the like.This may provide the capability of not allowing a streaming file orportions of the streaming file containing malicious code from enteringthe client facility 144, gateway facility, or network. In an embodiment,the streaming file may be broken into blocks of information, and aplurality of virus identities may be used to check each of the blocks ofinformation for malicious code. In an embodiment, any blocks that arenot determined to be clear of malicious code may not be delivered to theclient facility 144, gateway facility, or network.

Verifying that the threat management facility 100 is detecting threatsand violations to established policy, may require the ability to testthe system, either at the system level or for a particular computingcomponent. The testing facility 118 may allow the administrationfacility 134 to coordinate the testing of the security configurations ofclient facility 144 computing facilities on a network. Theadministration facility 134 may be able to send test files to a set ofclient facility 144 computing facilities to test the ability of theclient facility 144 to determine acceptability of the test file. Afterthe test file has been transmitted, a recording facility may record theactions taken by the client facility 144 in reaction to the test file.The recording facility may aggregate the testing information from theclient facility 144 and report the testing information to theadministration facility 134. The administration facility 134 may be ableto determine the level of preparedness of the client facility 144computing facilities by the reported information. Remedial action may betaken for any of the client facility 144 computing facilities asdetermined by the administration facility 134; remedial action may betaken by the administration facility 134 or by the user of the clientfacility 144.

The threat research facility 132 may provide a continuously ongoingeffort to maintain the threat protection capabilities of the threatmanagement facility 100 in light of continuous generation of new orevolved forms of malware. Threat research may include researchers andanalysts working on known and emerging malware, such as viruses,rootkits a spyware, as well as other computer threats such as phishing,spam, scams, and the like. In embodiments, through threat research, thethreat management facility 100 may be able to provide swift, globalresponses to the latest threats.

The threat management facility 100 may provide threat protection to theenterprise facility 102, where the enterprise facility 102 may include aplurality of networked components, such as client facility 144, serverfacility 142, DNS server facility 210, administration facility 134,firewall 138, gateway, hubs 148, routers, threat management appliance140, desktop users, mobile users, and the like. In embodiments, it maybe the end-point computer security facility 152, located on a computer'sdesktop, which may provide threat protection to a user, and associatedenterprise facility 102. In embodiments, the term end-point may refer toa computer system that may source data, receive data, evaluate data,buffer data, or the like, such as a user's desktop computer as anend-point computer, a firewall as a data evaluation end-point computersystem, a laptop as a mobile end-point computer, a PDA as a hand-heldend-point computer. In embodiments, end-point may refer to a source ordestination for data, including such components where the destination ischaracterized by an evaluation point for data, and where the data may besent to a subsequent destination after evaluation. The end-pointcomputer security facility 152 may be an application loaded onto thecomputer platform or computer support component, where the applicationmay accommodate the plurality of computer platforms and/or functionalrequirements of the component. For instance, a client facility 144computer may be one of a plurality of computer platforms, such asWindows, Macintosh, Linux, and the like, where the end-point computersecurity facility 152 may be adapted to the specific platform, whilemaintaining a uniform product and product services across platforms.Additionally, components may have different functions to serve withinthe enterprise facility's 102 networked computer-based infrastructure.For instance, computer support components provided as hubs 148, routers,server facility 142, DNS server facility 210, firewalls 138, and thelike, may require unique security application software to protect theirportion of the system infrastructure, while providing an element in anintegrated threat management system that extends out beyond the threatmanagement facility 100 to incorporate all computer resources under itsprotection.

The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of client facility144 computing platforms on which the end-point computer securityfacility 152 is adapted. A client facility 144 computing platform may bea computer system that is able to access a service on another computer,such as a server facility 142, via a network. This client facility 144server facility 142 model may apply to a plurality of networkedapplications, such as a client facility 144 connecting to an enterprisefacility 102 application server facility 142, a web browser clientfacility 144 connecting to a web server facility 142, an e-mail clientfacility 144 retrieving e-mail from an internet 154 service provider'smail storage servers 142, and the like. In embodiments, traditionallarge client facility 144 applications may be switched to websites,which may increase the browser's role as a client facility 144. Clients144 may be classified as a function of the extent to which they performtheir own processing. For instance, client facilities 144 are sometimesclassified as a fat client facility 144 or thin client facility 144. Thefat client facility 144, also known as a thick client facility 144 orrich client facility 144, may be a client facility 144 that performs thebulk of data processing operations itself, and does not necessarily relyon the server facility 142. The fat client facility 144 may be mostcommon in the form of a personal computer, where the personal computermay operate independent of any server facility 142. Programmingenvironments for fat clients 144 may include CURT, Delphi, Droplets,Java, win32, X11, and the like. Thin clients 144 may offer minimalprocessing capabilities, for instance, the thin client facility 144 mayprimarily provide a graphical user interface provided by an applicationserver facility 142, which may perform the bulk of any required dataprocessing. Programming environments for thin clients 144 may includeJavaScript/AJAX, ASP, JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, and thelike. The client facility 144 may also be a mix of the two, such asprocessing data locally, but relying on a server facility 142 for datastorage. As a result, this hybrid client facility 144 may providebenefits from both the fat client facility 144 type, such as multimediasupport and high performance, and the thin client facility 144 type,such as high manageability and flexibility. In embodiments, the threatmanagement facility 100, and associated end-point computer securityfacility 152, may provide seamless threat protection to the plurality ofclients 144, and client facility 144 types, across the enterprisefacility 102.

The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of server facility142, such as application servers 142, communications servers 142, fileservers 142, database servers 142, proxy servers 142, mail servers 142,fax servers 142, game servers 142, web servers 142, and the like. Aserver facility 142, which may also be referred to as a server facility142 application, server facility 142 operating system, server facility142 computer, or the like, may be an application program or operatingsystem that accepts client facility 144 connections in order to servicerequests from clients 144. The server facility 142 application may runon the same computer as the client facility 144 using it, or the serverfacility 142 and the client facility 144 may be running on differentcomputers and communicating across the network. Server facility 142applications may be divided among server facility 142 computers, withthe dividing depending upon the workload. For instance, under light loadconditions all server facility 142 applications may run on a singlecomputer and under heavy load conditions a single server facility 142application may run on multiple computers. In embodiments, the threatmanagement facility 100 may provide threat protection to serverfacilities 142 within the enterprise facility 102 as load conditions andapplication changes are made.

A server facility 142 may also be an appliance facility 140, where theappliance facility 140 provides specific services onto the network.Though the appliance facility 140 is a server facility 142 computer,that may be loaded with a server facility 142 operating system andserver facility 142 application, the enterprise facility 102 user maynot need to configure it, as the configuration may have been performedby a third party. In an embodiment, an enterprise facility 102 appliancemay be a server facility 142 appliance that has been configured andadapted for use with the threat management facility 100, and locatedwithin the facilities of the enterprise facility 102. The enterprisefacility's 102 threat management appliance may enable the enterprisefacility 102 to administer an on-site local managed threat protectionconfiguration, where the administration facility 134 may access thethreat resources through an interface, such as a web portal. In analternate embodiment, the enterprise facility 102 may be managedremotely from a third party, vendor, or the like, without an appliancefacility 140 located within the enterprise facility 102. In thisinstance, the appliance functionality may be a shared hardware productbetween pluralities of enterprises 102. In embodiments, the appliancefacility 140 may be located at the enterprise facility 102, where theenterprise facility 102 maintains a degree of control. In embodiments, ahosted service may be provided, where the appliance 140 may still be anon-site black box to the enterprise facility 102, physically placedthere because of infrastructure requirements, but managed by a thirdparty, vendor, or the like.

Simple server facility 142 appliances may also be utilized across theenterprise facility's 102 network infrastructure, such as switches,routers, wireless routers, hubs 148, gateways, print servers 142, netmodems, and the like. These simple server facility appliances may notrequire configuration by the enterprise facility 102, but may requireprotection from threats via an end-point computer security facility 152.These appliances may provide interconnection services within theenterprise facility 102 network, and therefore may advance the spread ofa threat if not properly protected.

One way for a client facility 144 to be protected from threats fromwithin the enterprise facility 102 network may be a personal firewall. Apersonal firewall may be an application that controls network traffic toand from a client, permitting or denying communications based on asecurity policy. Personal firewalls may be designed for use byend-users, which may result in protection for only the computer on whichit's installed. Personal firewalls may be able to control networktraffic by providing prompts each time a connection is attempted andadapting security policy accordingly. Personal firewalls may alsoprovide some level of intrusion detection, which may allow the softwareto terminate or block connectivity where it suspects an intrusion isbeing attempted. Other features that may be provided by a personalfirewall may include alerts about outgoing connection attempts, controlof program access to networks, hiding the client from port scans by notresponding to unsolicited network traffic, monitoring of applicationsthat may be listening for incoming connections, monitoring andregulation of incoming and outgoing network traffic, prevention ofunwanted network traffic from installed applications, reportingapplications that make connection attempts, reporting destinationservers with which applications may be attempting communications, andthe like. In embodiments, the personal firewall may be provided by thethreat management facility 100.

Another important component that may be protected by an end-pointcomputer security facility 152 is a network firewall facility 138, whichmay be a hardware or software device that may be configured to permit,deny, or proxy data through a computer network that has different levelsof trust in its source of data. For instance, an internal enterprisefacility 102 network may have a high level of trust, because the sourceof all data has been sourced from within the enterprise facility 102. Anexample of a low level of trust is the Internet 154, because the sourceof data may be unknown. A zone with an intermediate trust level,situated between the Internet 154 and a trusted internal network, may bereferred to as a “perimeter network”. Since firewall facilities 138represent boundaries between threat levels, the end-point computersecurity facility 152 associated with the firewall facility 138 mayprovide resources that may control the flow of threats at thisenterprise facility 102 network entry point. Firewall facilities 138,and associated end-point computer security facility 152, may also beassociated with a network node that may be equipped for interfacingbetween networks that use different protocols. In embodiments, theend-point computer security facility 152 may provide threat protectionin a plurality of network infrastructure locations, such as at theenterprise facility 102 network entry point, i.e. the firewall facility138 or gateway; at the server facility 142; at distribution pointswithin the network, i.e. the routers and hubs 148; at the desktop ofclient facility 144 computers; and the like. In embodiments, the mosteffective location for threat detection may be at the user's computerdesktop end-point computer security facility 152.

The interface between the threat management facility 100 and theenterprise facility 102, and through the appliance facility 140 toembedded end-point computer security facilities, may include a set oftools that may be the same for all enterprise implementations, but alloweach enterprise to implement different controls. In embodiments, thesecontrols may include both automatic actions and managed actions.Automatic actions may include downloads of the end-point computersecurity facility 152 to components of the enterprise facility 102,downloads of updates to existing end-point computer security facilitiesof the enterprise facility 102, uploaded network interaction requestsfrom enterprise facility 102 components to the threat managementfacility 100, and the like. In embodiments, automatic interactionsbetween the enterprise facility 102 and the threat management facility100 may be configured by the threat management facility 100 and anadministration facility 134 in the enterprise facility 102. Theadministration facility 134 may configure policy rules that determineinteractions, such as developing rules for accessing applications, as inwho is authorized and when applications may be used; establishing rulesfor ethical behavior and activities; rules governing the use ofentertainment software such as games, or personal use software such asIM 162 and VoIP 164; rules for determining access to enterprise facility102 computing resources, including authentication, levels of access,risk assessment, and usage history tracking; rules for when an action isnot allowed, such as whether an action is completely deigned or justmodified in its execution; and the like. The administration facility 134may also establish license management, which in turn may furtherdetermine interactions associated with a licensed application. Inembodiments, interactions between the threat management facility 100 andthe enterprise facility 102 may provide threat protection to theenterprise facility 102 by managing the flow of network data into andout of the enterprise facility 102 through automatic actions that may beconfigured by the threat management facility 100 or the administrationfacility 134.

Client facilities 144 within the enterprise facility 102 may beconnected to the enterprise facility 102 network by way of wired networkfacilities 148 or wireless network facilities 150. Client facilities 144connected to the enterprise facility 102 network via a wired facility148 or wireless facility 150 may receive similar protection, as bothconnection types are ultimately connected to the same enterprisefacility 102 network, with the same end-point computer security facility152, and the same threat protected enterprise facility 102 environment.Mobile wireless facility 150 clients 144, because of their ability toconnect to any wireless 150 network access point, may connect to theinterne 154 outside the enterprise facility 102, and therefore outsidethe threat-protected environment of the enterprise facility 102. In thisinstance the mobile client facility 144, if not for the presence of theend-point computer security facility 152 may experience a malware attackor perform actions counter to enterprise facility 102 establishedpolicies. In addition, there may be a plurality of ways for the threatmanagement facility 100 to protect the out-of-enterprise facility 102mobile client facility 144 that has an embedded end-point computersecurity facility 152, such as by providing URI filtering in personalrouters, using a web appliance as a DNS proxy, or the like. Mobileclient facilities 144 that are components of the enterprise facility 102but temporarily outside connectivity with the enterprise facility 102network, may be provided with the same threat protection and policycontrol as client facilities 144 inside the enterprise facility 102. Inaddition, mobile client facilities 144 may receive the same interactionsto and from the threat management facility 100 as client facilities 144inside the enterprise facility 102, where mobile client facilities 144may be considered a virtual extension of the enterprise facility 102,receiving all the same services via their embedded end-point computersecurity facility 152.

Interactions between the threat management facility 100 and thecomponents of the enterprise facility 102, including mobile clientfacility 144 extensions of the enterprise facility 102, may ultimatelybe connected through the internet 154. Threat management facility 100downloads and upgrades to the enterprise facility 102 may be passed fromthe firewalled networks of the threat management facility 100 through tothe end-point computer security facility 152 equipped components of theenterprise facility 102. In turn the end-point computer securityfacility 152 components of the enterprise facility 102 may upload policyand access requests back across the internet 154 and through to thethreat management facility 100. The Internet 154 however, is also thepath through which threats may be transmitted from their source. Thesenetwork threats may include threats from a plurality of sources,including websites 158, e-mail 160, IM 162, VoIP 164, applicationsoftware, and the like. These threats may attempt to attack a mobileenterprise facility 102 client facility 144 equipped with an end-pointcomputer security facility 152, but in embodiments, as long as themobile client facility 144 is embedded with an end-point computersecurity facility 152, as described above, threats may have no bettersuccess than if the mobile client facility 144 where inside theenterprise facility 102.

However, if the mobile client facility 144 were to attempt to connectinto an unprotected connection point, such as at a secondary location108 that is not a part of the enterprise facility 102, the mobile clientfacility 144 may be required to request network interactions through thethreat management facility 100, where contacting the threat managementfacility 100 may be performed prior to any other network action. Inembodiments, the client facility's 144 end-point computer securityfacility 152 may manage actions in unprotected network environments suchas when the client facility 144 is in a secondary location 108 orconnecting wirelessly 150 to a non-enterprise facility 102 wirelessinternet 154 connection, where the end-point computer security facility152 may dictate what actions are allowed, blocked, modified, or thelike. For instance, if the client facility's 144 end-point computersecurity facility 152 is unable to establish a secured connection to thethreat management facility 100, the end-point computer security facility152 may inform the user of such, and recommend that the connection notbe made. In the instance when the user chooses to connect despite therecommendation, the end-point computer security facility 152 may performspecific actions during or after the unprotected connection is made,including running scans during the connection period, running scansafter the connection is terminated, storing interactions for subsequentthreat and policy evaluation, contacting the threat management facility100 upon first instance of a secured connection for further actions andor scanning, restricting access to network and local resources, or thelike. In embodiments, the end-point computer security facility 152 mayperform specific actions to remediate possible threat incursions orpolicy violations during or after the unprotected connection.

The secondary location 108 may have no end-point computer securityfacilities 152 as a part of its computer components, such as itsfirewalls 138, servers 142, clients 144, hubs 148, wireless hubs 150,and the like. As a result, the computer components of the secondarylocation 108 may be open to threat attacks, and become potential sourcesof threats, as well as any mobile enterprise facility 102 clients 144that may be connected to the secondary location's 108 network. In thisinstance, these computer components may now unknowingly spread a threatto other components connected to the network.

Some threats may not come directly from the Internet 154, such as fromnon-enterprise facility 102 controlled mobile devices that arephysically brought into the enterprise facility 102 and connected to theenterprise facility 102 client facilities 144. The connection may bemade from direct connection with the enterprise facility's 102 clientfacility 144, such as through a USB port, or in physical proximity withthe enterprise facility's 102 client facility 144 such that a wirelessfacility 150 connection can be established, such as through a Bluetoothconnection. These physical proximity threats 110 may be another mobilecomputing device, a portable memory storage device, a mobilecommunications device, or the like, such as CDs and DVDs 170, memorystick 174, flash drive 174, external hard drive, cell phone 178, PDAs180, MP3 players, digital cameras, point-to-point devices, digitalpicture frames, digital pens, navigation devices, appliances, and thelike. A physical proximity threat 110 may have been previouslyinfiltrated by network threats while connected to an unprotected networkconnection outside the enterprise facility 102, and when connected tothe enterprise facility 102 client facility 144, pose a threat. Becauseof their mobile nature, physical proximity threats 110 may infiltratecomputing resources in any location, such as being physically broughtinto the enterprise facility 102 site, connected to an enterprisefacility 102 client facility 144 while that client facility 144 ismobile, plugged into an unprotected client facility 144 at a secondarylocation 108, and the like. A mobile device, once connected to anunprotected computer resource, may become a physical proximity threat110. In embodiments, the end-point computer security facility 152 mayprovide enterprise facility 102 computing resources with threatprotection against physical proximity threats 110, for instance, throughscanning the device prior to allowing data transfers, through securityvalidation certificates, through establishing a safe zone within theenterprise facility 102 computing resource to transfer data into forevaluation, and the like.

Now that the overall system has been described, we turn towards a set ofembodiments relating to the security of sensitive information. It shouldbe understood that the following embodiments may be managed through athreat management facility 100 (e.g. a computer implemented threatmanagement facility embodied in computer readable medium and executed onone or more computer processing platforms) along with other services,such as those described herein.

An aspect of the present invention relates to protecting sensitiveinformation that is stored in a secure data store. In this informationage, there are large amounts of sensitive data transferred throughcomputers and computer networks. Companies possessing such informationare under scrutiny and regulation to protect such sensitive information.In some cases, securing and protecting sensitive information is a vitalfunction for a corporation. Sensitive information may include bankinformation, credit card information, corporate or personal confidentialinformation and such. Companies that secure information in a secure datastore may secure the data through encryption, contingent access (e.g.password protected access), encrypted network connections and the like.The applicants of the present invention realized that it is also veryimportant to protect the information once data is taken out of thesecure data store. In embodiments, the computer implemented system (e.g.embodied in computer media that may be executed on one or more computingplatforms) is adapted to regulate the dissemination of data from anendpoint that has access, or has accessed, a secure data store. Theendpoint may be evaluated for compliance with a policy relating to theaccess of the secure data store. In the event the endpoint is found tobe non-compliant, the endpoint may be regulated per the policy.

Turing now to the embodiments depicted in FIG. 2, a central policy (e.g.as described herein elsewhere) may be managed through a policymanagement facility 112 (e.g. embodied in computer media that may beexecuted on one or more computing platforms). The policy managementfacility 112 may be updated and then those updates may be disseminatedto the end-points 144. The policy may set the rules to regulate endpoints through the endpoint's computer security facility 152 (e.g.embodied in computer media that is resident on the endpoint or accessedby the endpoint computing platform). In embodiments of the presentinvention, a portion of the policy may relate to what systems, or whatendpoints, are permitted access to a secure data store 202 (e.g. acentrally network accessible data store).

A portion of the policy managed through the policy management facility112 may relate to the permissibility of an endpoint 144 to access asecure data store 202. The policy may be set such that any endpoint thatfalls out of compliance therewith is treated as a risk with respect tohandling sensitive data. While the endpoint remains in a non-compliantsecurity state, the policy may dictate, through the local endpoint'scomputer security facility 152, that certain actions may need to takeplace on the endpoint. The actions may include disabling networkcommunications to and/or from the endpoint, disabling all networkcommunications to and/or from the endpoint except for communication withthe threat management facility 100 such that updates to the endpoint'scomputer security facility 152 or other portions of the system can becompleted, disabling write capabilities to all data stores associatedwith the endpoint, disabling all local port communications (e.g.Bluetooth, USB, etc.) or other such actions intended to inhibit thecommunication of any sensitive data from the endpoint.

Referring to FIG. 2, an administrator 134 may set a policy through thepolicy management facility 112 instructing endpoint computers 144 todisable certain functions in the case where they are non-compliant. Thepolicy may require the endpoint computer 144 to audit itself or producea compliance report relating to the security of its local data stores204. In other embodiments, the endpoint may be audited from an externalsource. Data store 204A may be a removable data store that connects tothe computer through an external port. The data store 204B may be aninternal data store and may be a hard drive, floppy drive, optical driveor other such permanently attached data store. The data store 204B maybe wirelessly connected to the endpoint, such as by Bluetooth or othersuch wireless connectivity interface technology. The policy may demandthat a data store 204 (e.g. 204A and/or 204B) be treated as a securedata store before the endpoint 144 is permitted to access the securedata store 202. The policy may further dictate that the data store 204be encrypted, password protected, accessible only by the endpoint 144 orotherwise treated as a secure data store before the endpoint 144 ispermitted access to the secure data store 202. The audit may confirmthat the data store 204 is treated as a secure data store. In the eventthat the data store 204 is not treated as a secure data store, asdefined by the policy, the endpoint may not be allowed access to thesecure data store 202.

The policy may also require that other aspects of the endpoint softwareand security systems are up to date and compliant with the currentpolicy before permitting the endpoint 144 to access the secure datastore 202. For example, OS patch level, application patch level, virusprotection, and other aspects may be required to be up to date orotherwise in compliance before the endpoint is permitted to access thesecure data store 202.

A security policy may be established, by the administrator 134, todisallow all endpoint 144 network access, except for access to thesecured data store 202 when a connection has been established to thesecured data store 202. In addition, in embodiments, the endpoints 144with connection to the secure data store 202 may be required to becomplaint with the security policy of being patched, running anti-virus,have full disk encryption, running the correct version of endpointcompliance software, having an appropriate operating firewall, and thelike. The computer security facility 152 may reside on the endpoint 144,embodied as computer readable media that is executed by a processor ofthe endpoint computing facility 144 and may be adapted to reportcompliance information back to a central server (e.g. the threatmanagement facility 100) as well as retrieve any policy updatestherefrom. The computer security facility 152 may detect when a user hasconnected to the secured data store 202 either remote or locally bychecking if the data store is secured (e.g. by testing whether itrequires authentication and is otherwise obscured (e.g. encrypted)). Ifthe secure data store is a database then the connection could be testedto make sure encryption is being used in the communications channel andauthentication is required, for example. If the secure data store is afile(s) then the computer security facility 152 may check to make surethe file is encrypted, on an encrypted disk, that anonymous access isnot permitted, and the like. If the user or endpoint 144 is notcompliant the access may be prevented by disabling the networkconnection if the secure data store is remote (e.g. either through knownport(s) or all access) or if the secure data store 202 is localdisabling all network access except to the central policy/remediationserver.

In embodiments, a computer program product embodied in a computerreadable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, mayperform the steps of: receiving an indication that a computer facilityhas access to a secure data store; causing a security parameter of astorage medium local to the computer facility to be assessed;determining if the security parameter is compliant with a securitypolicy relating to computer access of the remote secure database; and inresponse to an indication that the security parameter is non-compliant,causing the computer facility to implement an action to prevent furtherdissemination of information.

In embodiments, a computer program product embodied in a computerreadable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, mayperform the steps of: receiving an indication that a computer facilityhas access to a secure data store; causing a security parameter of astorage medium local to the computer facility to be assessed;determining if the security parameter is compliant with a securitypolicy relating to computer access of the remote secure database; and inresponse to an indication that the security parameter is non-compliant,causing the computer facility to disable access to networkcommunications.

In embodiments, a computer program product embodied in a computerreadable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, mayperform the steps of: receiving an indication that a computer facilityhas retrieved data from a secure data store; monitoring what storagemedium the computer facility writes the data to and assessing a securityparameter of the storage medium to determine if it is compliant with asecurity policy relating to computer access of the remote securedatabase; and in response to receiving an indication that the securityparameter is not compliant, causing the computer facility to implementan action to prevent further dissemination of information.

In embodiments, a computer program product embodied in a computerreadable medium that, when executing on one or more computers, mayperform the steps of: receiving an indication that a computer facilityhas access to a secure data store; causing a security parameter relatingto the computer facility to be assessed; determining if the securityparameter is compliant with a security policy relating to computeraccess of the remote secure database; and in response to an indicationthat the security parameter is non-compliant, causing the computerfacility to implement an action to prevent further dissemination ofinformation.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software, program codes,and/or instructions on a processor. The present invention may beimplemented as a method on the machine, as a system or apparatus as partof or in relation to the machine, or as a computer program productembodied in a computer readable medium executing on one or more of themachines. The processor may be part of a server, client, networkinfrastructure, mobile computing platform, stationary computingplatform, or other computing platform. A processor may be any kind ofcomputational or processing device capable of executing programinstructions, codes, binary instructions and the like. The processor maybe or include a signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor,microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math co-processor,graphic co-processor, communication co-processor and the like) and thelike that may directly or indirectly facilitate execution of programcode or program instructions stored thereon. In addition, the processormay enable execution of multiple programs, threads, and codes. Thethreads may be executed simultaneously to enhance the performance of theprocessor and to facilitate simultaneous operations of the application.By way of implementation, methods, program codes, program instructionsand the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread.The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned prioritiesassociated with them; the processor may execute these threads based onpriority or any other order based on instructions provided in theprogram code. The processor may include memory that stores methods,codes, instructions and programs as described herein and elsewhere. Theprocessor may access a storage medium through an interface that maystore methods, codes, and instructions as described herein andelsewhere. The storage medium associated with the processor for storingmethods, programs, codes, program instructions or other type ofinstructions capable of being executed by the computing or processingdevice may include but may not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM,DVD, memory, hard disk, flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.

A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance speed andperformance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the process may be adual core processor, quad core processors, other chip-levelmultiprocessor and the like that combine two or more independent cores(called a die).

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through a machine that executes computer software on a server,client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such computer and/ornetworking hardware. The software program may be associated with aserver that may include a file server, print server, domain server,internet server, intranet server and other variants such as secondaryserver, host server, distributed server and the like. The server mayinclude one or more of memories, processors, computer readable media,storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication devices, andinterfaces capable of accessing other servers, clients, machines, anddevices through a wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods,programs or codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed bythe server. In addition, other devices required for execution of methodsas described in this application may be considered as a part of theinfrastructure associated with the server.

The server may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, clients, other servers, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the serverthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A centralrepository may provide program instructions to be executed on differentdevices. In this implementation, the remote repository may act as astorage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The software program may be associated with a client that may include afile client, print client, domain client, internet client, intranetclient and other variants such as secondary client, host client,distributed client and the like. The client may include one or more ofmemories, processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports(physical and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable ofaccessing other clients, servers, machines, and devices through a wiredor a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes asdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. Inaddition, other devices required for execution of methods as describedin this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructureassociated with the client.

The client may provide an interface to other devices including, withoutlimitation, servers, other clients, printers, database servers, printservers, file servers, communication servers, distributed servers andthe like. Additionally, this coupling and/or connection may facilitateremote execution of program across the network. The networking of someor all of these devices may facilitate parallel processing of a programor method at one or more location without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the clientthrough an interface may include at least one storage medium capable ofstoring methods, programs, applications, code and/or instructions. Acentral repository may provide program instructions to be executed ondifferent devices. In this implementation, the remote repository may actas a storage medium for program code, instructions, and programs.

The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in part or inwhole through network infrastructures. The network infrastructure mayinclude elements such as computing devices, servers, routers, hubs,firewalls, clients, personal computers, communication devices, routingdevices and other active and passive devices, modules and/or componentsas known in the art. The computing and/or non-computing device(s)associated with the network infrastructure may include, apart from othercomponents, a storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM,ROM and the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructionsdescribed herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of thenetwork infrastructural elements.

The methods, program codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network having multiplecells. The cellular network may either be frequency division multipleaccess (FDMA) network or code division multiple access (CDMA) network.The cellular network may include mobile devices, cell sites, basestations, repeaters, antennas, towers, and the like. The cell networkmay be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh, or other networks types.

The methods, programs codes, and instructions described herein andelsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile devices. The mobiledevices may include navigation devices, cell phones, mobile phones,mobile personal digital assistants, laptops, palmtops, netbooks, pagers,electronic books readers, music players and the like. These devices mayinclude, apart from other components, a storage medium such as a flashmemory, buffer, RAM, ROM and one or more computing devices. Thecomputing devices associated with mobile devices may be enabled toexecute program codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon.Alternatively, the mobile devices may be configured to executeinstructions in collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices maycommunicate with base stations interfaced with servers and configured toexecute program codes. The mobile devices may communicate on a peer topeer network, mesh network, or other communications network. The programcode may be stored on the storage medium associated with the server andexecuted by a computing device embedded within the server. The basestation may include a computing device and a storage medium. The storagedevice may store program codes and instructions executed by thecomputing devices associated with the base station.

The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions may be storedand/or accessed on machine readable media that may include: computercomponents, devices, and recording media that retain digital data usedfor computing for some interval of time; semiconductor storage known asrandom access memory (RAM); mass storage typically for more permanentstorage, such as optical discs, forms of magnetic storage like harddisks, tapes, drums, cards and other types; processor registers, cachememory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such asCD, DVD; removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone RAMdisks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the like; othercomputer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory, read/writestorage, mutable storage, read only, random access, sequential access,location addressable, file addressable, content addressable, networkattached storage, storage area network, bar codes, magnetic ink, and thelike.

The methods and systems described herein may transform physical and/oror intangible items from one state to another. The methods and systemsdescribed herein may also transform data representing physical and/orintangible items from one state to another.

The elements described and depicted herein, including in flow charts andblock diagrams throughout the figures, imply logical boundaries betweenthe elements. However, according to software or hardware engineeringpractices, the depicted elements and the functions thereof may beimplemented on machines through computer executable media having aprocessor capable of executing program instructions stored thereon as amonolithic software structure, as standalone software modules, or asmodules that employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, orany combination of these, and all such implementations may be within thescope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may include,but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants, laptops,personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld computing devices,medical equipment, wired or wireless communication devices, transducers,chips, calculators, satellites, tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets,electronic devices, devices having artificial intelligence, computingdevices, networking equipments, servers, routers and the like.Furthermore, the elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagramsor any other logical component may be implemented on a machine capableof executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawingsand descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed systems,no particular arrangement of software for implementing these functionalaspects should be inferred from these descriptions unless explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context. Similarly, it will beappreciated that the various steps identified and described above may bevaried, and that the order of steps may be adapted to particularapplications of the techniques disclosed herein. All such variations andmodifications are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure.As such, the depiction and/or description of an order for various stepsshould not be understood to require a particular order of execution forthose steps, unless required by a particular application, or explicitlystated or otherwise clear from the context.

The methods and/or processes described above, and steps thereof, may berealized in hardware, software or any combination of hardware andsoftware suitable for a particular application. The hardware may includea general purpose computer and/or dedicated computing device or specificcomputing device or particular aspect or component of a specificcomputing device. The processes may be realized in one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded microcontrollers,programmable digital signal processors or other programmable device,along with internal and/or external memory. The processes may also, orinstead, be embodied in an application specific integrated circuit, aprogrammable gate array, programmable array logic, or any other deviceor combination of devices that may be configured to process electronicsignals. It will further be appreciated that one or more of theprocesses may be realized as a computer executable code capable of beingexecuted on a machine readable medium.

The computer executable code may be created using a structuredprogramming language such as C, an object oriented programming languagesuch as C++, or any other high-level or low-level programming language(including assembly languages, hardware description languages, anddatabase programming languages and technologies) that may be stored,compiled or interpreted to run on one of the above devices, as well asheterogeneous combinations of processors, processor architectures, orcombinations of different hardware and software, or any other machinecapable of executing program instructions.

Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and combinationsthereof may be embodied in computer executable code that, when executingon one or more computing devices, performs the steps thereof. In anotheraspect, the methods may be embodied in systems that perform the stepsthereof, and may be distributed across devices in a number of ways, orall of the functionality may be integrated into a dedicated, standalonedevice or other hardware. In another aspect, the means for performingthe steps associated with the processes described above may include anyof the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutationsand combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the presentdisclosure.

While the invention has been disclosed in connection with the preferredembodiments shown and described in detail, various modifications andimprovements thereon will become readily apparent to those skilled inthe art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of the present invention isnot to be limited by the foregoing examples, but is to be understood inthe broadest sense allowable by law.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of protecting stored information, themethod comprising: storing a security policy for controlling access by anetwork endpoint to an encrypted remote data store, the security policyrequiring a data store connected to the network endpoint to meet one ormore security requirements for identification as a secure data store,the one or more security requirements including a requirement that thedata store connected to the network endpoint be encrypted; receiving anindication at a threat management facility that a first endpoint hasaccess to the encrypted remote data store; auditing the first endpointto determine whether a security parameter of a first data storeconnected to the first endpoint is compliant with the one or moresecurity requirements for identification as a secure data store; whenthe security parameter of the first data store is compliant with the oneor more security requirements for identification as a secure data store,permitting dissemination of data from the encrypted remote data store tothe first endpoint; and when the security parameter of the first datastore is not compliant with at least one of the one or more securityrequirements, causing the first endpoint to implement an action by thefirst endpoint to regulate dissemination of data from the encryptedremote data store to the first endpoint.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the action includes at least one of disabling networkcommunications to the first endpoint and disabling networkcommunications from the first endpoint.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the action includes at least one of disabling all networkcommunications to the first endpoint, except for communication betweenthe threat management facility and the first endpoint, and disabling allnetwork communications from the first endpoint, except for communicationbetween the threat management facility and the first endpoint.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the action includes disabling communicationsbetween the first endpoint and the encrypted remote data store.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the action includes disabling writecapabilities to data stores associated with the first endpoint.
 6. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the action includes disabling local portcommunications.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or moresecurity requirements include a requirement that the data storeconnected to the network endpoint be password protected.
 8. The methodof claim 1, wherein the one or more security requirements include arequirement that the data store connected to the network endpoint beaccessible only by the network endpoint.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the one or more security requirements include a requirement ofanti-virus software running on the network endpoint.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more security requirements include arequirement of the network endpoint having full disk encryption.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the one or more security requirements includea requirement of a correct version of endpoint compliance softwarerunning on the network endpoint.
 12. The method of claim 1, wherein theone or more security requirements include a requirement of the networkendpoint having an appropriate operating firewall.
 13. A computerprogram product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable mediumthat, when executing on a threat management facility, performs stepscomprising: storing a security policy for controlling access by anetwork endpoint to an encrypted remote data store, the security policyrequiring a data store connected to the network endpoint to meet one ormore security requirements for identification as a secure data store,the one or more security requirements including a requirement that thedata store connected to the network endpoint be encrypted; receiving anindication at the threat management facility that a first endpoint hasaccess to the encrypted remote data store; auditing the first endpointto determine whether a security parameter of a first data storeconnected to the first endpoint is compliant with the one or moresecurity requirements for identification as a secure data store; whenthe security parameter of the first data store is compliant with the oneor more security requirements for identification as a secure data store,permitting dissemination of data from the encrypted remote data store tothe first endpoint; and when the security parameter of the first datastore is not compliant with at least one of the one or more securityrequirements, causing the first endpoint to implement an action by thefirst endpoint to regulate dissemination of data from the encryptedremote data store to the first endpoint.
 14. The computer programproduct of claim 13, wherein the action includes at least one ofdisabling network communications to the first endpoint and disablingnetwork communications from the first endpoint.
 15. The computer programproduct of claim 13, wherein the action includes one or more of thefollowing: disabling communications between the first endpoint and theencrypted remote data store; disabling write capabilities to data storesassociated with the first endpoint; and disabling local portcommunications.
 16. The computer program product of claim 13, whereinthe one or more security requirements include one or more of thefollowing: a requirement that the data store connected to the networkendpoint be password protected; and a requirement that the data storeconnected to the network endpoint be accessible only by the networkendpoint.
 17. A system comprising: an encrypted remote data store; afirst endpoint including a computing device comprising a memory and aprocessor, the first endpoint in a communicating relationship with theencrypted remote data store, and the first endpoint storing a securitypolicy for controlling access by a network endpoint to the encryptedremote data store, the security policy requiring a data store connectedto the network endpoint to meet one or more security requirements foridentification as a secure data store, the one or more securityrequirements including a requirement that the data store connected tothe network endpoint be encrypted; and a threat management facilitycoupled in a communicating relationship with the first endpoint, thethreat management facility configured to, in response to an indicationthat the first endpoint has access to the encrypted remote data store,audit the first endpoint to determine whether a first internal datastore connected to the first endpoint is compliant with one or moresecurity requirements for identification as a secure data store, topermit dissemination of data from the encrypted remote data store to thefirst endpoint when the first internal data store is compliant with theone or more security requirements for identification as a secure datastore, and, when the first internal data store is not compliant with atleast one of the one or more security requirements, to cause the firstendpoint to implement an action, by the first endpoint to regulatedissemination of data from the encrypted remote data store to the firstendpoint.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein regulating disseminationof data includes one or more of the following: disabling communicationsbetween the first endpoint and the encrypted remote data store;disabling write capabilities to data stores associated with the firstendpoint; and disabling all local port communications.
 19. The system ofclaim 17, wherein the one or more security requirements include one ormore of the following: a requirement that the data store connected tothe network endpoint be password protected; and a requirement that thedata store connected to the network endpoint be accessible only by thenetwork endpoint.